Re: Metric-Imperial-Metric conversion computer tool

From: Alex McGregor (waldenfarm@sprintmail.com)
Date: Mon Jan 24 2000 - 11:47:27 EST


Guillermo Romero wrote:

> That is really funny. I mean if you were trying to imply that the best way to accelerate a Mac is to trow it out the window, let me comment on a small detail you may want to change in the future:
>
> The acceleration of gravity is defined as 9.78 m/sec(SQUARED) and not "sec/sec". If my arithmetics are correct the square of sec is sec*sec or sec multiply by sec. In the other hand sec/sec or sec divided by sec is ONE (any number divided by itself is one, any number divided by 1 is the same unaffected number).
>
> So your equation above could be interpreted as a line 9.8 meters long worth of Macs. An then I'll have to agree, it would be a great arrangement to accelerate doing whatever job you might have.

Guillermo,

Perhaps you are not familiar with mathematics as it is spoken in English. m/sec/sec is spoken as "meters per second per second". That is, acceleration is measured as a velocity measured over time. More accurately, acceleration is the second derivative of distance with respect to time.

We use the square of time to translate how we speak it into a mathematical equation (as you pointed out). But, it is both mathematically (theoretically) and grammatically inaccurate to say that acceleration is in "seconds squared." This is merely a mathematical convention which allows us to do computations and has
nothing to do with how the physical world functions in the western scientific paradigm.

But, after all, it was only a joke, which you seem to have understood despite the language barriers. Maybe when we finish arguing over how many cms are in a whatever, we should discuss how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.

And in case I have offended Mac users out there- How do you tell someone's a PC user? By the hourglass permanently etched in their retinas.

Alex

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